The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-08-06

Maximilian was made prisoner, men, tioned the incident about the En- press Charlotte in 1866, and he said {: E'Yes, it was who made the attempt to capture her." "Will you explain to me how it was, and what your in tentions were, general?" "Yes," he answered. "You may remember" he said, "the decree of the Sd of Octo- Der, 1865, issued by Maximilian and his ministers, and which read "Ev- cry Mexican caught with any weapons in his hands shall be considered as a bandit and shall be executed immedi- ately." It is said that Maximilian himself was opposed to this decree, but influenced by Bazine and the En- press Charlotte, was compelled to is- sue it. Now by this merciless law we lost the bravest of our soldiers and the best of our generals. In May of 1866, the we'll known and perhaps the best of our guerrilleros, Nicolas Rom- gro, was taken prisoner in Jalisbo and brought to the City of Mexico, where, together with others, he was to be oAlOLS LlC Otu O1 O ulC OSttt q regard for this man, brave in battle and merciful with his prisoners, and I resolved, at the risk of my life, to save him. was commanding 1000 men; my headquarters was the Mount of St. Juan, which you know is not far from the capital; chose sixty of my bravest men, and favored by the dark ness of the night of the 9th of June, I led them through the forests of the road connecting the castle of Chapul- tepec with the capital hid my men, and myself in a small river along the road knew the empress had to pass between the hours of and in the morning, as she was accustomed to take a ride every morning at that hour from the city to the castle. My intention was to capture her, and by doing that was sure to rescue my great friend. also knew she had with her ten or twelve men, but I had six times that number, and what gave me confidence was they did not expect such an attack. waited. The hour came, and said to my soldiers Don't hurt the woman on white horse, but try to capture her. Just then Char lotte came in sight, and with the cry to my men, For Mexico,' we sprang up to the bed of the road, and hand in-hand struggle at once began. The empress, to my surprise, instead of fleeing toward the castle, as I expected she would, turned to the city. I fol- lowed her closely-very closely. was about to catch the tail of her horse, but by that time I was at the gate of the city and before POO or more French soldiers, who were thunder struck at the sight of their empress passing like lightning between them. The captain commanding Mts body of soldiers ecds Boulanger. I took ad- vantage of their surprise and returned to my men. The empress owed her life to the beautiful mare. Indeed, that mare beat my horse and saved her mistress. When I reached the place where my men were, all the French soldiers with the exception of one, the captain, were lying on the road, some killed, others wounded, and a woman was lying also on zarape of one of my soldiers. I told the captain to take care of his companions and the wo- man, and ordered my soldiers to re- treat to the Mount of San Juan. Il was unsuccessful, but even now I feel conscious of having done all in my power to rescue dear friend" d."-E1- change.